Finding the Right Fit for Your Merchants’ Pet Store POS System

Pet stores often carry a variety of products types while also providing various pet services and even making live animal sales. According to the American Pet Products Association, “In 2018, $72.56 billion was spent on pets in the U.S. and that number is estimated to grow to $75.38 billion in 2019.” As a result, the process of managing sales can become complex for your merchants. Choosing a POS system suited for the pet industry is vital to ensuring fast and efficient customer service, keeping track of inventory, and tracking sales so they can make more informed business decisions.

Inventory Management

Regardless of whether your merchants’ pet shop sells accessories, pet food, or even pet clothing, it is important to make sure that they are able to accurately manage their inventory. Otherwise, your merchants’ store could run out of popular items or become overstocked with items that do not sell quickly. An inventory management feature on their pet store POS will help merchants keep track of all of the inventory in their store so that they can spend more time focusing on their customers. This eliminates the need to perform inventory checks manually, thus saving your merchants and their staff time that could be better devoted to improved customer service.

Faster Checkout

When customers come into your merchants’ pet shop, they want to pick up the items they need without waiting in a long time. The same is also true of customers who have booked appointments for services, such as grooming. A pet store POS will give them the ability to quickly ring up everything from treats to toys and even live animal purchases. Swipe credit and debit cards and then print receipts with ease using their point-of-sale system. Customers are able to get in and out of your merchants’ store quickly without waiting in line, ensuring a more pleasant checkout experience.

Appointment Booking

Offering grooming, boarding, and other services can provide additional revenue streams for your merchants’ pet shop. In order to take advantage of those services, merchants need to be able to accurately book appointments. With a pet shop POS, they can schedule appointments and track clients with ease. Your merchants’ POS system can even give them the ability to create customer profiles for both their human clients and their four-legged clients so that they can easily keep track of special requests and preferences. This sets the stage for improved customer service and customer loyalty. New employees can also quickly get to know their customers and their pets simply by reviewing past sales and customer profiles.

Setting Up Your Pet Store POS

A number of factors need to be taken into consideration when setting up the point-of-sale system for your merchants’ pet store. In most instances, they will need to consider the size of their store, whether they handle live animal sales, and whether they offer specialty services, such as grooming and boarding. It is also important to consider ease of use to ensure faster and more accurate service.

Number of Terminals

With their pet store POS, they can easily add terminals wherever needed in your pet store. This can prove to be beneficial if your merchants wish to separate live animal sales from the sale of accessories and supplies. They can also opt to add a separate terminal in their boarding facility or their pet salon. Multiple terminals can make it much easier for each department of their store to handle sales.

Customer Loyalty Programs

Customers to pet shops are often repeat visitors. This presents an excellent opportunity to establish membership clubs and provide discounts and special perks to return customers. With your merchants’ POS system, they should be able to create customer profiles and provide membership specials, including reduced prices. By offering such perks, they can build customer relationships, take advantage of marketing opportunities, and encourage repeat business.

Service Availability

When your merchants are booking special services for customers in their pet shop, they never want to encounter a situation where they have overbooked their groomers or other employees. Your merchants can use their POS to set up an appointment calendar and then review appointment status per client, including whether the appointment has been confirmed or cancelled. Their pet shop POS can also help them to determine whether the service has been paid for in advance. As a result, they gain the ability to quickly and easily schedule appointments while ensuring that they are not over-extended. Based on the data from your merchants’ scheduling reports, they can also make more informed business decisions, such as whether they may need to bring in more employees.

Touchscreen Interface

The process of ringing up such an extensive inventory, combined with various services, can be a challenge for any pet shop. In order to ensure that mistakes are not made and that all sales are priced appropriately, a touchscreen interface on your merchants’ pet shop POS can be a vital addition. With a touchscreen interface, even their new employees can quickly and accurately ring up sales. By linking the interface to their inventory, they can automatically run inventory checks and ensure that they have everything they need for their shop on hand.

As a value added reseller, it is important to equip your merchants with the right tools to be successful. Ensure that their POS system comes with inventory management tools, the ability for faster checkout, and is capable of booking appointments for their customers. In addition, check the number of terminals, the service availability, if there is a touchscreen interface, and how it helps create loyalty based programs. Don’t let the constant hustle of your merchants’ pet store be a burden on their productivity. Finding the right POS system that fits their needs is key.

Stay tuned to the Reseller Edge newsletter as we dive into choosing the right POS systems for various vertical markets over the next few issues

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